Construction, New Residence

Sixteen Detached Homes Complete on East Burnside

Recently, crews completed paving work on the NE 92nd Place-94th Avenue Alley off East Burnside Street, leading to 16 new two-story homes. Each of the back 15 units has attached garages, and the front home features a wide parking pad. This development project transformed a former automotive storage and wrecking yard into an urban subdivision with family-sized units.

Low-angle view of a newly paved street with a storm drain in the foreground and residential buildings lining the sides.
Stormwater management on paved alleyway

The approximately 20-foot-wide asphalt-paved alley has a concrete center channel that connects to stormwater inlets, which will control rain runoff from extensive paving at this site. The developer widened the once-overgrown gravel alley that connects East Burnside Street to a private street serving a 1996-era housing development. The public right-of-way alley continues north to NE Glisan Street but is blocked by parked vehicles and overgrown vegetation beyond this recently improved loop. Although the alley is not for through traffic, work at this site built a street-grid connection that facilitated significant housing density.

A newly constructed residential area featuring multiple houses, a sidewalk, and a recently paved street, surrounded by landscaping and a split rail fence.

Most of the new homes have a similar floor plan, with the frontmost home deviating from the design pattern in two notable ways. In addition to not offering interior vehicle storage, 9251 E Burnside Street has one less bathroom on the second floor than its 15 neighbors to the north. Designers also placed that unit’s stacked laundry closet on the ground floor rather than the upper level. All homes in this project have three bedrooms and an open concept main level. Each has a half-bath powder room on the first floor under the stairs. Six of the back units are designed to meet Portland’s visitability standards for universal access on the main level. They have a concrete ramp to the front doors that bypasses the steps and a larger ground-floor bathroom. Those larger restrooms extend past the outer wall, creating pop-out space with interior capacity to accommodate an unobstructed circle at least 60 inches in diameter. Both features help people in mobility devices enter the structure and use all the lower-level facilities. All 15 back-homes have a primary suite on the second floor with an attached bathroom and a double closet.

Row of modern suburban homes with various colors and architectural styles, featuring garages and front porches.
Six units with concrete ramps to the front doors that bypasses steps meeting visitability standards

The homes use a condominium land structure with a small monthly homeowners’ association (HOA) fee. Units also have fire sprinkler systems required in modern builds of this density. One of the units is currently listed for $439,900, with the others expected to become available soon. This site is walking distance from several transit options, including the MAX light rail system, and East Burnside Street has dedicated bike lanes. This location would be a good home for non-drivers or families that only have one car. However, this development still provides significant parking with space for up to two vehicles per home, along with infrastructure improvements that many opponents of some infill housing say must be part of density projects. The design team transformed a blighted commercial property into housing that fits the scale and style of the surrounding structures. Look for homes to fill with new residents over the coming months.

  • 9251 E Burnside Street
  • 9253 E Burnside Street
  • 9255 E Burnside Street
  • 9257 E Burnside Street
  • 9259 E Burnside Street
  • 9261 E Burnside Street
  • 9263 E Burnside Street
  • 9265 E Burnside Street
  • 9267 E Burnside Street
  • 9269 E Burnside Street
  • 9271 E Burnside Street
  • 9273 E Burnside Street
  • 9275 E Burnside Street
  • 9277 E Burnside Street
  • 9279 E Burnside Street
  • 9281 E Burnside Street

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Otter Wax, a neighborhood producer of small-batch specialty goods handcrafted in Portland. Using only natural ingredients, they make modern care products that are steeped in tradition. We thank them for their support.

Infrastructure

Parking Protected Bike Lanes on SE Washington

At the end of January, crews working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) completed the installation of slightly raised concrete separators for the newly created parking-buffered bike lane on the south side of SE Washington Street. This new physical infrastructure helps keep parking vehicles from encroaching on the curbside non-automotive path. However, the installation of the bicycle safety infrastructure on the one-way street is not universally appreciated by street users.

A street scene showing a utility work sign, traffic cones, and a bike lane marking, indicating ongoing construction. Wooden planks are laid across the road.
Concrete forms for lane separators on SE Washingtons St looking east from SE 76th Ave Jan 27th, 2026 (Crossett Freilinger)

In August, 2025, crews with Specialized Pavement Marking (SPM) removed lane markings on SE Thorburn, Stark, and Washington Streets as part of PBOT’s reconfiguration of the roads to improve safety for bike and pedestrian use. Road marking contractors repainted the streets, changing the traffic pattern for drivers on SE Thorburn and Washington Streets who lost a lane of travel in each direction. Bike lane users gained a protected route from SE Gilham Avenue to SE 92nd Avenue. PBOT retained much of the existing street parking on both sides of SE Washington Street for a critical two-block segment near the historic Montavilla downtown area. The road striping plan removed south curbside parking on SE Washington and replaced it with bike-lane-adjacent parking from SE 76th to 80th Avenues, creating a protected buffer for the five-foot-wide curbside cyclist route. To accommodate driveway access and maintain driver visibility, PBOT reduced parking capacity on the south side of the street, painting a white hatch pattern where vehicles should not stop and creating painted stalls where cars can park.

During the last six months, drivers have used the painted markings with varied success. At times, people continued to park against the southern curb, blocking the bike lane, or used the hatched area for parking. The addition of the raised concrete separators on the northern edge of the bike lane has helped keep vehicles aligned with their space, giving motorists’ tires a tactile street element to detect the proper position without extending into the bike lane. The width of the concrete separator also keeps vehicles from creating an open door obstacle for bike lane users. One of the challenges bike riders face in some parking-protected lanes comes from car doors opening into the lane. If the door is longer than the bike lane’s width and the vehicle is close to the outer edge of the lane, the rider is trapped between the parked vehicles and the curb, with no space to veer around an open door. In SE Washington’s configuration, most open passenger doors should allow enough room for the cyclist or scooter rider to hug the curb and zip around the vehicle’s door.

A street scene featuring orange traffic cones along a curved road, traffic lights with green signals, and residential houses in the background. A bicycle lane is marked on the pavement, and wet ground indicates recent rain.
SE Washington St west of SE 76th Ave (Jacob Loeb)

Even with these recent concrete additions, some cyclists say they feel trapped in parking-protected bike lanes and fear reduced visibility to drivers who may turn across the path without noticing riders behind the parked cars. That has led some safety advocates to point to Dutch-style, physically separated, and often raised bike infrastructure that places the bike path next to the pedestrian sidewalk and pushes the planting strips and furniture zone, with utility poles, towards the curb. This design is costly to retrofit into existing streets because it often requires relocating overhead and below-ground utility lines. It also requires additional markings to help cyclists and pedestrians properly navigate a shared sidewalk space without conflict.

Some local business owners and drivers using this route have expressed dissatisfaction with the loss of a travel lane on the one-way street. During peak usage times, traffic can back up as motorists wait for the traffic lights at SE 76th, 82nd, and 92nd Avenues. Similarly, during the weekend farmers market or on busy evenings, the slightly fewer parking spots on SE Washington Street will require people to park farther into the residential portion of the neighborhood. However, at most times of day, the street flows without significant traffic buildup, and the commercial streets of Montavilla historically lacked sufficient capacity to accommodate the number of visitors seeking parking during big events. For years, drivers have ventured into the surrounding residential areas to park their vehicles during those peak times.

A street scene showing a construction barrier on a roadway, parked cars in the background, and a pedestrian walking with a red umbrella along the sidewalk. A speed limit sign for 30 is visible.
SE Washington St showing hight of raised concrete lane separator (Jacob Loeb)

For cyclists and scooter users riding in this new lane, the raised concrete separators help align the parked cars, providing protection. They also help motorists interact with the uncommon parking arrangement. However, these raised separators are shorter than a curb and beveled so vehicles can easily drive over them. They do not offer full protection for cyclists beyond simply encouraging drivers to stay in their lanes, and drivers will need to adapt to this new traffic pattern and parking system. Until then, all street users should use caution in this area and look for unexpected conflict points.

By

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Check out East Portland News as it continues to advocate for and report on outer East Portland. You will find frequently updated articles and an archive of more than 5,000 stories written over the past 20+ years alongside a robust Community Calendar of events.

History

Montavilla History Questions Answered:Academy Theater Part 1

I think most would agree that the Academy Theater on SE Stark is one of Montavilla’s most outstanding historical buildings. When it opened in 1948, it could claim to be the most modern building on Montavilla’s main street. How it came to be and how it survived is a story with many twists and turns.

It began as the dreamchild of Fred Teeny (1914-1979) and his wife Lillian Mary Shaheen Teeney (1920-2009). Fred came from an entrepreneurial family—his father and brothers owned numerous businesses in Portland. This business orientation goes back to Fred’s father, Joseph Abraham Teeny (1885-1952), who had emigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon in 1906. Joseph soon opened a dry goods store on Foster Road, and his son Fred opened his own dry goods store in the 1930s at the southwest corner of Stark and SE 80th—now the location of the 2005 building where Tinker Tavern is today.

By the mid-1940s, Fred and Lillian started thinking about building a movie theater. They decided the opposite end of the block, where their dry goods store was located, would be a good location.

The timing must have seemed right. By this time, World War II had ended. Restrictions on non-war-related construction had been lifted. Movie theater attendance was rising, hitting a new box-office high in 1946. While Montavilla already had a movie theater—the Granada—but there wasn’t one on SE Stark, Montavilla’s main street.

Presumably, the Teenys wanted a modern building, not something with the old-fashioned exotic details of the Granada. But something with a little flash, something different from the early 20th-century buildings that dominated Stark Street. So, they hired Portland James William De Young (1885-1965), an architect known for keeping up with the new architectural trends. De Young had been in business in Portland for over 30 years, and he had designed several movie theaters. The Teenys must have liked De Young’s Gresham Theater–its striking winged cylinder above the marquee would reappear in the Academy design.

Sketch of a historical building with a large tower, people standing in front, and dramatic clouds overhead.
J. W. De Young’s Gresham Theater design. Source: Oregon Journal, December 15, 1935

For the Teenys, De Young designed not just a theater but a building complex. On either side of the theater, he planned spaces for stores, including one for a Fred Tenny shoe store.

Black and white image of a street view featuring various storefronts, including 'Montavilla Camera & Record Shop' and a cinema with a marquee displaying movie titles.
The Academy Theater and adjacent shops around 1948. The storefront on the left is yet unoccupied, but the others were occupied by the Montavilla Camera and Record Shop, Fred Teeny’s Montavilla Shoe Store, Fuller Wallpaper & Paint, and Gardner’s Restaurant. Photo courtesy of the Academy Theater

De Young’s plans were ready by September 1946, but construction was delayed until Fred Teeny could get a permit. His first permit was denied because the post-war U.S. government was prioritizing residential construction, but a few months later, Teeny got a permit, and his contractors, Knott, Rogers, and Dunbar, began construction.

When the theater was finished, it featured a single auditorium with a sloping floor and seats for six hundred. It also had air conditioning, a stylish lobby, and even a nursery for childcare. Behind the theater, there was a large parking lot.

The Teenys decided to name the Academy, so it would appear first in theater listings.

The grand opening took place on April 30, 1948.

A black-and-white photo of a large group of children and adults waiting in line outside a building, possibly a theater, with a marquee and ticket booth visible.
A crowd gathers for the Academy Theater’s grand opening. Note the ticket booth was then in the middle of the entrance. Photo courtesy of the Academy Theater

Initially, the Teenys did not manage the theater. They leased it to Al Myers (1909-1979), owner of Montavilla’s Granada Theatre. Al and his wife, Polly (1920-1996), managed both theaters until the late 1950s.

Like many neighborhood theaters, the Academy featured second-run movies. For opening night, it was the 1947 box-office hit, “Tycoon,” starring John Wayne, Anthony Quinn, and Loraine Day.

Movie poster for 'Tycoon' featuring John Wayne, showing a close-up of him with a serious expression.
Poster for “Tycoon” Photo source: Wikipedia
A woman stands with hands on hips and a scarf around her neck, while a man sits relaxed in a chair, both captured in a vintage black-and-white photo.
Managers Polly and Al Myers in the Academy lobby. Photo courtesy of the Academy Theater (donated by Polly Myers’ son, Vern Kjargaard)

Something special happened at the Academy in 1949. The May 28 edition of the Oregon Journal reported that movie star Janet Gaynor and her husband, fashion designer Gilbert Adrian, would be at the Academy for a screening of the 1937 movie “A Star is Born.” Gaynor starred in that movie and was nominated for an Academy Award. She did not win, but she had won the Academy’s best actress award for multiple movies in 1929.

Vintage movie poster for 'A Star is Born' featuring a man and woman in a romantic embrace against a colorful background, with actor names and production details.
Poster adverting the 1946 re-release of “A Star Is Born”. Source: Wikimedia

In 1958, Fred and Lillian Teeny took over the management of the Academy. At this time, they updated the theater by adding stereophonic sound and a wide, curved screen. They continued to manage the theater with help from their children, Sharon (1940-2014) and Jim (born 1945), until 1965.

A vintage advertisement announcing the grand re-opening of an establishment called 'Academy' located at 7818 SE Stark, highlighting new management and a new family policy, set for Wednesday evening.
Ad for the Academy’s “Grand Re-opening” in 1958. Source: Oregon Journal, January 20, 1958
A vintage black-and-white photo of a family consisting of a man holding a young boy, a woman with dark curly hair, and two children, one boy and one girl, all smiling at the camera.
The Teeny family, left to right: Sharon, Jim, Fred, and Lillian. Photo courtesy of Jim Teeny

In 1965, big-band leader Van Armitage (1917-1994) leased and managed the Academy for a brief time. But the theater did not do well, and Jim Teeny and his mother took over.

In 1966, a new problem arose. Montavilla’s first theater complex, Eastgate Cinema, opened just a few blocks away. Could the Academy survive?

To be continued in The Academy Theater Part 2.

by

Patricia Sanders

Title image: Academy Theater marquee in its renovated state Photo by Jacob Loeb, digitally edited to remove power-line

This is part of Montavilla History Questions Answered, a series of history related articles. If you have questions about Montavilla’s past that you’d like answered, local historian Patricia Sanders will investigate your question. Please email your questions to history@montavilla.net and we may feature it alongside Patricia Sanders’ research in a future.

Construction, New Residence

Home with ADU Sprouting Up Along New Sidewalk

Crews recently built the foundation for a new home and attached Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) at 2701 SE 85th Avenue and will soon begin framing on the three-story structure. This lot has remained vacant since the previous property owner demolished the original single-story home in 2018. In 2021, Ernie Jette Construction bought the 1,936-square-foot corner property after it was split from the parcel that currently supports a 1997-era duplex. Since then, contractors working for the City of Portland have paved the adjacent gravel road and constructed modern sidewalks, saving the developer from having to provide that infrastructure along SE Clinton Street.

The two new homes will have sloped shed roofs, giving them a flat front appearance towards the street. The main residence will face SE 85th Avenue and stand three stories tall, while the ADU will face SE Clinton Street and be one level shorter. Both units will have open main floors with living and kitchen space. Designers placed a half-bathroom under the stairs on the first floor, with a full bathroom on the second floor serving two adjacent bedrooms. The primary residence has the owner’s suite on the third floor with its own attached bathroom and walk-in closet. The larger home will offer future residents 1,426 square feet of living space, and the ADU will provide 789 square feet of living space.

Construction site with a wooden foundation frame on a gravel base, surrounded by a fence, portable toilet, and nearby homes.

The infrastructure work in this area is part of the Jade and Montavilla Multimodal Improvements Project, which created new sidewalks on SE Clinton Street from SE 84th to 87th Avenues, among many other updates. These additions help ready this area for future housing density. Much of the surrounding lots are Residential Multi-Dwelling 1 (RM1) zoned for low-scale multi-dwelling development. Replacing the gravel streets with modern infrastructure is essential as more residents will need to walk, roll, or drive through the area. Although Ernie Jette said that the new streets and sidewalks were not a deciding factor for creating this project, he is happy with the timing.

This section of the Jade District, bordered by SE Division Street, SE 82nd Avenue, SE Powell Boulevard, and Interstate-205, still has many streets and sidewalks in need of updates. Some of that work will occur during redevelopment, but for smaller developments, adding the infrastructure costs to a project can significantly increase the selling price of a home. When the City can leverage Federal funds and System Development Charge (SDC) funds to bring the area up to modern street standards, as they did in this area, it can make it easier to add housing density within a community and lessen the burden on neighbors by providing curbside parking and more efficient streets and sidewalks.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Greg Beddor – SEO Specialist, an Oregon based digital marketing consultancy. The company markets customer’s websites and provide SEO services to grow their business. We thank them for their support.

Community, Transportation

Rosa Parks Birthday Free Transit Feb 4

TriMet will honor Rosa Parks with free rides for all passengers this Wednesday, February 4th. Transit operators will suspend fare collection on that day until 2 a.m. February 5th. Portland Streetcar and C-TRAN operators will also offer rides without cost in observation of the civil rights icon’s 113th birthday. Riders who tap a Hop card or ticket will receive confirmation of valid fare, but the automated systems won’t charge them, and ticket machines will not allow any ticket purchases on February 4th.

In 2020, TriMet’s District 5 Director Keith Edwards proposed the resolution declaring Parks’ birthday as a day of remembrance across the public transportation system. That year, TriMet adopted the fare holiday across the 533-square-mile service district to recognize Parks’ contribution to the Civil Rights Movement. 2026 is the sixth straight year TriMet has commemorated the bravery of Parks, whose name is most notably associated with the struggle to bring equity to public transportation as part of a wider racial equality movement.

Graphic honoring Rosa Parks with her silhouette, text stating 'RIDE FREE' and 'Feb 4 Celebrating Rosa Parks' birthday'.
Graphic courtesy TriMet

On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks challenged Montgomery, Alabama’s segregationist city ordinance that required black Americans to give up seats in the “Colored” section of the bus for white riders when the reserved white section ran out of seats. Parks’ refusal of the bus driver’s commands to give up her seat resulted in her arrest. Her act of civil disobedience led to the year-long Montgomery bus boycott and a significant court decision that found bus segregation unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Parks suffered years of harassment for her role as a public face of the Civil Rights movement. Still, history has quickly recognized her contributions to equality through that 1955 peaceful act of defiance, and her later work, which has had a lasting impact on America’s ongoing effort to repair its racial inequities.

Article and photo by

Jacob Loeb

Construction, Infrastructure

Pavement Repairs on SE 85th Part of Sidewalk Infill

On January 27th, contractors working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation laid new asphalt along a segment of SE 85th Avenue behind the Fubonn Shopping Center, temporarily closing the street to through traffic. This work is part of the Jade and Montavilla Multimodal Improvements Project, which created sidewalks from SE Division Street to SE Powell Boulevard along SE 85th Avenue. This segment was previously only partially paved with a pot-hole-laden gravel shoulder. Now cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers have a consistently reliable north-south route away from the busy 82nd Avenue main street.

This repaving work between SE Clinton and Brooklyn Streets adds to previous work that created new sidewalks on SE Clinton Street from SE 84th to 87th Avenues, with crews converting the existing gravel road to a modern street surface from SE 84th Place to 87th Avenue. West of 82nd Avenue, SE Tibbetts Street is receiving sidewalk infill, with some blocks lacking consistent pedestrian pavement down to SE 78th Avenue. Most sidewalks in the project area will receive updated Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant curb ramps.

Construction site featuring two multi-story buildings with yellow siding, blue tarps on the roof, and exposed windows. Heavy machinery and building materials are visible in the foreground, along with a red car parked nearby.
40-unit Jade Apartments at 2905 SE 89th Avenue

The new street infrastructure connects to a secondary entrance to the Fubonn Shopping Center, which contractors constructed in April 2025, providing access to the east side of the grocery store and retail site from SE 85th Avenue. Designers located the new entrance on the northeastern corner of the shopping complex. These updates were part of a long-term plan to improve multimodal access in a section of Portland’s Jade District that has the capacity for significant housing development on large, underdeveloped properties. Crews are currently wrapping up external construction on the 40-unit Jade Apartments at 2905 SE 89th Avenue, and Oregon Metro recently purchased a 1.46-acre property at the intersection of SE 90th Place and SE 89th Avenue for housing development.

Construction workers operating heavy machinery on a street, with a large truck parked nearby and bare trees lining the sidewalk.
Crews laying new pavement along SE 85th Ave connecting the roadway between new sidewalks

Other developers are similarly looking to increase housing density in the area as private and public projects create the infrastructure needed to support the new people walking, driving, and rolling through this area bordered by SE Division Street, SE 82nd Avenue, SE Powell Boulevard, and Interstate-205. Look for work to be completed on SE 85th Avenue in the coming weeks, along with increased usage as people discover this improved route in the Jade District.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Otter Wax, a neighborhood producer of small-batch specialty goods handcrafted in Portland. Using only natural ingredients, they make modern care products that are steeped in tradition. We thank them for their support.

Infrastructure

Crews Complete 1st Half of NE Halsey Mini-roundabout

Crews recently completed half of a new mini-roundabout along NE Halsey Street as they work to reopen NE 80th and NE 81st Avenues to car traffic. Contractors working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation installed underground stormwater management pipes that connect with relocated catch basins as part of this street reconfiguration, which includes reconstructed sidewalks and curbs. NE Halsey remains open for east-west through traffic.

Map of a roundabout intersection featuring NE Halsey Street, NE 80th Street, and NE 81st Street, alongside the I-84 Eastbound off-ramp.
PBOT provided illustration showing the NE Halsey, NE 80th, and 81st junction with mini roundabout

This work is part of the NE Halsey Street (68th to 92nd Avenues) – Safety and Access to Transit Project. It builds on substantial street safety improvements undertaken in 2024, when roadwork reconfigured NE Halsey Street between 68th and 81st Avenues, removing a lane in each direction while adding painted buffered bike lanes and a center turn lane. In this section of the project, the new mini-roundabout at NE 80th Avenue and Halsey Street will address a notoriously confusing intersection, located just before one of the three NE Halsey Street freeway overpasses. Renderings posted show that people will have access to high-visibility pedestrian and bike crossings. Rebuilt and extended corners will also shorten the crossing distance, and new sidewalk segments will guide users to pathways that lead to transit connections. When contractors complete work at NE 81st Avenue, cyclists will have access to a bi-directional buffered bike track on the south side of NE Halsey Street, extending up to NE 92nd Avenue.

Construction site showing orange traffic cones, wooden forms, and marker flags in a partially paved area during sunset.
NE 80th Ave at NE Halsey looking east on January 15, 2026

PBOT chose this intersection design to reduce crashes while keeping traffic flowing. The roundabout will slow drivers and reduce conflict points, without requiring drivers to come to a complete stop unless a cyclist, pedestrian, or other vehicle has the right of way. The infrastructure should have a lower lifecycle cost because it does not rely on electric traffic signal equipment. Buses and fire trucks can easily drive through the center of the roundabout to make tight turns when needed, improving safety without impacting critical travel routes.

Construction site with heavy machinery, traffic cones, and barriers blocking the sidewalk and road.
NE 81st Ave looking northwest on January 15, 2026

The next phase of work will restore the road surface around the new raised concrete infrastructure so eastbound traffic can travel around the southern half of the mini-roundabout and access NE 80th and NE 81st Avenues. Then, contractors can build the northern half of the mini-roundabout. Crews will continue to work at the site from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. All driveways on these blocks will remain open for people traveling to or from the worksite. However, street users should anticipate detours and follow all instructions from crews working in the area.

A construction site featuring a newly poured concrete sidewalk, traffic cones, and road construction barriers in front of a commercial building.
NE 80th Ave at NE Halsey looking east on January 23, 2026

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Check out East Portland News as it continues to advocate for and report on outer East Portland. You will find frequently updated articles and an archive of more than 5,000 stories written over the past 20+ years alongside a robust Community Calendar of events.

Event, New Business

TESO Life Store Opening on SE Washington Jan 31st

TESO Life will open its first Portland location at 10548 SE Washington Street next Saturday, January 31st. The Asian household goods seller took over the 23,200-square-foot storefront left vacant by Big Lots four years ago at Plaza 205. The shopping complex is currently reinventing itself to serve people interested in items and flavors from across Asia. Shoppers will find a variety of imported products, claw machines, and collectables inside the Japanese department store. The TESO Life staff will welcome people as the company hosts a grand opening celebration over the weekend, ending on February 2nd.

Once open, the store will serve guests daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Headquartered in Queens, New York, TESO Life began in 2017 and has expanded across the country with dozens of shops and plans to open more storefronts in the coming years, doubling its footprint. The organization will open another Oregon location at 4005 SW 117th Avenue in Beaverton this May. The store has a significant social media following among fans and customers seeking Asian skincare, hair care, and makeup products, as well as hard-to-find snacks and drinks not often sold in the United States.

Interior view of a vibrant retail store aisle filled with colorful toys and merchandise, featuring shelves of various products and prominent signage in the background.

This location is next door to Portland’s first 99 Ranch Market, which opened to large crowds on August 16th, 2025. Based on other locations’ opening days, attendees looking to check out the SE Washington Street TESO Life on January 31st should anticipate lines similar to those at its neighboring grocery store’s grand opening. The event organizers will offer free items with purchase during the opening weekend, further incentivizing large attendance. People can visit the company’s Instagram page for more details.

Article and phots by

Jacob Loeb

Promotion: Montavilla News is supported by contributions from businesses like Otter Wax, a neighborhood producer of small-batch specialty goods handcrafted in Portland. Using only natural ingredients, they make modern care products that are steeped in tradition. We thank them for their support.

Food and Drink, New Business

Chick-fil-A Opens on SE Stark Street

On January 22nd, Portland’s first free-standing Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in the Gateway district across from Mall 205. The store is unique in several ways from the other locations in the outer Portland area. It has a larger kitchen than most stores, a kids’ play area less often included in new facilities, and no drive-through window. Instead of hosting lines of cars, the fast food destination will serve guests with a digitized version of a drive-in model, allowing customers to park and order via a mobile app, with meals brought to the vehicle. First-time franchise operator Austin Morrow has worked toward this moment since age sixteen, learning all he can about building an inclusive, family-oriented establishment.

Indoor playground structure featuring climbing features, slides, and hanging rings, in a brightly lit room.
Kids’ play area

For the last 12 years, Morrow has dedicated his career to Chick-fil-A, with the last four spent in the Leadership Development program. That helped in the competitive process to become an operator. In this franchise model, the company owns the restaurant building and equipment, but operators control the local business. “I have 100% flexibility. I rent the space from Chick-fil-A, but I am an independent business owner, and all the staff work in my organization here. I have direct influence on how I give back to the community, how I serve my team, and how I can offer opportunities for my team,” explained Morrow.

A smiling man in a blazer stands beside a large Chick-fil-A sign with a welcoming message, surrounded by colorful balloons and decorations.
Franchise operator Austin Morrow

Morrow moved to the area last September, but had visited before when considering the opportunity. “When I was looking at coming to Portland, I went down [to the Clackamas location] and met with Brian Davis, the operator there. Just like me, he’s from the south, and he moved his family up here,” said Morrow. What he found was that most people did not have direct experience with the company on the West Coast, which allowed operators to shape the experience in a meaningful way. “In the south, Chick-fil-A is everywhere, so to be able to come to a community where it might be that first bite… there’s something special about when you’re sharing that first impression.”

A tidy dining area featuring wooden tables and metal chairs with black seat cushions, decorated with vases of roses at each table. Bright natural light streams in through large windows, providing a welcoming atmosphere.

Unlike the auto-focused Clackamas store, this location will need to serve customers arriving in a variety of ways. “I think we’re going to be pretty foot traffic heavy,” said Morrow. “We have a lot of people who walk or use public transportation. Even my team members live really local in the community and walk here to work, so I think we will be a high foot traffic area.” Additionally, the city’s building code did not allow them to build a standard fast-food restaurant targeting people in vehicles. The Portland City Council voted in 2018 to prohibit new drive-through construction within commercial zones. Although this project is a near-complete renovation of an existing building, the structure never included a drive-through service window, which prevents it from qualifying for a prior-existence exemption. This project dates back to May 2022, when the national fast food chain explored development at 9950 SE Stark Street, opting to renovate the original structure to maintain its nonconforming use of the existing site for food service. The 1984-era structure previously hosted Rax Roast Beef, Tony Roma’s, and Hooters restaurants before converting to Mystic Gentlemen’s Club and later Venue Gentlemen’s Club.

Exterior view of a building entrance with a sign for 'Delivery Drivers' and curbside order markers.
Delivery Driver entrance and numbered parking stalls for app orders staff will bring to customer’s cars

Although they have improved pedestrian infrastructure around the property, the freeway-adjacent location will continue to attract motorists. Without the drive-through option, Morrow and his staff will be creative to meet customer demand. “We have 15 curbside spots where we’ll be offering a similar experience [to other locations] where you don’t have to get out of the car, and we’ll bring the food to you,” said Austin Morrow. “They can order ahead of time, or they could park and then order in the parking spot.” The dedicated and numbered stalls are at the northwest corner of the parking lot, adjacent to the delivery driver entrance. People working with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub have a dedicated, inside, welcoming space to pick up orders. Delivery apps can make up 10 to 30% of a day’s orders, and having the separated space helps get them on the road faster without imposing on customers in line.

Interior of a fast-food restaurant kitchen featuring a checkout counter with a payment terminal, promotional signage for free beverages, and organized shelves with kitchen equipment.
Delivery Driver pickup counter

Morrow said that customer experience is paramount to his efforts in Portland, but he also wants to support the nearly 100 employees joining his team. “My mission is to exceed the expectations of my guests and my team members. I want to be a premier employer for the team that’s working here, explained Morrow. At the base level, that is with a paycheck and a meal. “Sometimes we’ll have team members who come in and may not have food at home. This [shift] may be their only opportunity. So I want to make sure that they can have a hot meal for free that day.” Morrow said that he also wants to help his staff beyond their time at Chick-fil-A. “One thing I’m going to offer is I’m offering is a program where they can go to college. If you can work 30 hours a week, that will enable you to be able to go to college and hope for a better future. Because it’s not my hope that someone joins this organization and stays here for the rest of their life.”

Interior view of a restaurant featuring modern decor with wooden accents, red pendant lights, and tables set with small vases of roses.

In addition to staff support, the organization encourages locations to participate in the Chick-fil-A Shared Table program, donating leftover protein to groups feeding the community. Morrow selected the Highland Christian Center to receive unserved food items that are cooled and ready for storage for use in the church’s meal program at 7600 NE Glisan Street. With this program, community kitchens will receive unused chicken that can be incorporated into other dishes. So recipients will not get the traditional sandwiches and may not know where the protein came from, but the leftover food will go to good use, feeding people with limited access to food. This philosophy of sharing food started even before the doors opened. “We’ve been training here [ahead of opening] so we actually donated a thousand sandwiches within the community, and so we use that as an opportunity to train our team,” said Morrow.

Interior of a Chick-fil-A restaurant featuring a long table with red chairs and several gift bags with pink tissue paper lined up on top.

Morrow explained that he is committed to joining the community and improving the area around his store. “I want people to feel that local ownership aspect. We operate under a large brand that says Chick-fil-A, but I want people in the community to feel like this is a local organization.” He expressed how much he appreciates Portland’s cultural and intellectual diversity, noting that people have been far more welcoming than he anticipated. “It’s my hope that when you come into my restaurant, you’re going to see through my team members, all different backgrounds, all different walks of life. And it’s my hope that we can create a culture in our community that everyone is welcome in this restaurant,” said Morrow. Starting today, the Chick-fil-A Mall 205 location will open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. They anticipate significant demand during the first few days and recommend people consider parking in the Mall 205 parking lot and crossing SE Washington Street if the main parking lot is full.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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Infrastructure

Reconstructed Sidewalk Corners Planned on NE Glisan

Crews working with the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will update sidewalk corners along NE Glisan Street as part of the planned NE Glisan Pave and Paint Project, which will use pavement maintenance to restripe and reconfigure the roadway from NE 82nd to 92nd avenues. Ahead of the planned summer work, contractors will begin rebuilding crossing points to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant standards for curb ramps and updating stormwater catch basin placement to match the new ramps and better handle rainwater runoff.

A sidewalk marked with white chalk lines and symbols, resembling a hopscotch game, alongside a grassy area and a playground in the background.
Future site of mid-block curb ramp at NE 83rd Ave leading to Montavilla Park playground

Recently added pavement markings at the “T” intersection of NE Glisan Street and 83rd Avenue indicate the placement of new curb ramps at the south corners and two mid-block ramps on the north alignment for the unmarked crosswalk. Montavilla Park and the Multnomah University campus create a long, uninterrupted block on the northern edge of NE Glisan. Up to now, anyone crossing the busy east-west roadway had limited curb ramp options. PBOT will need to enhance most crossing points along the work site that are not already updated to modern standards before major roadwork takes place, as the repaving project repairs the cuts made by the sidewalk corner and stormwater system installation at the street’s edge. People can expect that work to take place this Spring.

Sidewalk with chalk markings and numbers, adjacent to a road lined with trees and shrubs.

PBOT planners anticipate that much of the in-traffic lane work will take place in the Summer of 2026, when crews use heavy equipment to grind down old asphalt and spread a new layer of aggregate bound with bitumen to create a smoother driving surface. Contractors will repaint the lane markings in a new configuration to support painted buffered-bike lanes along the curb for much of the project length. This section of NE Glisan Street implemented alternating outer lanes used for parking or an auxiliary travel lane, depending on the time of day. Collisions occurred on this street where cars were parked, but drivers may have assumed the outer lane was clear. PBOT engineers anticipate that removing that conflict point will yield significant safety improvements with minimal impact on vehicle throughput. This work will also increase safer bike and pedestrian infrastructure in the area this year, while later project work can build on the new configuration with hardened street elements for greater safety.

Proposed cross-section diagram for 80th Ave to I-205 segment, showing lane widths for vehicles and bike lanes.
Illustration of the existing four travel and one turn lane over proposed configuration from PBOT’s NE Glisan St – 82nd Avenue Multimodal Safety and Access 2028-2030 RFFA Project Factsheet. Courtesy Oregon Metro

This stretch of NE Glisan received an Oregon Metro Regional Flexible Funds Allocation grant to add physically protected bike infrastructure sometime in 2030. The work included in the Northeast Glisan St: 82nd Avenue Multimodal Safety and Access project would require lane reconfiguration and repainting. PBOT Planners feel that this 2026 road surface maintenance presents an opportunity to save public funds by reconfiguring the street during the post-asphalt-work painting process ahead of the larger safety improvement project. By doing road marking work now in the new configuration, post-repaving, PBOT can save taxpayer funds by lessening the reconfiguration costs four years later.

A suburban street view showing parked cars on both sides, with a street sign for 'E Glisan' visible. Trees and houses line the street, and a cloudy sky is overhead.
NE 83rd Ave looking south from NE Glisan

Travelers should anticipate seeing more pavement markings on the sidewalk along NE Glisan Street from NE 82nd to 92nd avenues as planners ready the area for the rebuilt pedestrian and stormwater infrastructure. People walking in the area should anticipate detours when demolition and construction work start in the spring. Drivers in the area should expect temporary outer lane closures on NE Glisan during construction, followed by permanent outer lane closures after crews paint new lane markings. Details are available on the project website.

Article and photos by

Jacob Loeb

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